Committee for Skeptical Inquiry

[Barry Karr <SkeptInq@aol.com>]

The foreign-rights division of Prometheus Books has announced that it
> signed 49 new book contracts in 16 countries in the year 2001. The list of
> books and countries is below. The countries include Japan, China, Spain
> (available also in South America), Malaysia, Poland, Korea, Thailand,
> Russia (available in neighboring Republics), Italy, Perú, Turkey, the
> Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Brazil (and Portugal), the United
> Kingdom, and Taiwan.
>
> All told, over 424 books have been translated into 40 languages in the
> past 10 years.
>
> Prometheus, now 33 years old, is the largest secular humanism,
> freethought, and skeptical press in the world.
>
> Antisocial Behavior - Japan - Tuttle-Mori
> The Art of Becoming Human - China - Front Publishing
> The Art of Becoming Human - Spanish - Panorama
> Atheism - Malaysia - Peer Mohd
> Battling the Inner Dummy - Turkey
> Business Ethics - Malaysia - Peer Mohd
> Caring for the Alzheimer Patient - Spanish - Ediciones Tempora
> Caring for the Parkinson Patient - Spanish - Ediciones Tempora
> Clear Thinking - Korea - Seokwangsa Publishing Company
> Conquering Rheumatoid Arthritis - Spanish - Alfaomega
> Culture Wars and the Global Village - China - Guizhou People's Publishing
> House
> Cyberethics - China - Guizhou People's Publish House
> Decisions, Decisions - Korea - Book Cosmos
> Einstein's Brainchild - Netherlands - Tirion
> Einstein's Brainchild - Taiwan
> Einstein's Brainchild - Spanish - Aguilar/Grupo Santillana
> Einstein's Brainchild - Korea - Yang Moon
> Einstein's Brainchild - Portuguese - Editora Perspectiva
> The Evil We Do - Chile - Cuatro Vientos Editorial
> The Evil We Do - China - Living Psychology Publishers
> The Evil We Do - Czech Republic - Redaktor
> The Faith Healers - China - Xinhua
> Great Essays in Science - Korea - Gummyoungsa Publishers
> In the Mind's Eye - Brazil - Angela M.F. Alem
> Islamic Mysticism - Malaysia - Peer Mohd
> It's Not the Glass Ceiling, It's the Sticky Floor - Korea - Book Cosmos
> The Joy of Self-Pleasuring - Korea - Hanul Publishing Company
> The Love Songs of Sappho - UK - Chester Music
> Manic Depression and Creativity - China - Living Psychology Publishers
> The Mask of Nostradamus - China - Xinhua
> Michel Foucault's Force of Flight - Turkey - Ayrinti Yayinlari
> Old Tales for a New Day - Czech Republic - Redaktor
> Philosophy in Crisis - Spanish - Gedisa
> Pseudoscience and the Paranormal - China - Xinhua
> Qigong - Malaysia - Peer Mohd
> Science: Good, Bad, and Bogus - China - Shanghai Copyright
> Science Meets Alternative Medicine - Malaysia - Peer Mohd
> Science vs. Religion - Poland - Graal
> Sex without Love - Korea - The Agency
> Starry Night - Doubleday Select/Astronomy Book Club
> Test Your Science IQ - China - Hai Nam Publishing
> Test Your Science IQ - Malaysia - Peer Mohd
> Test Your Science IQ - Thailand - Kobfai Publishing Project
> The Truth about Everything - Russia - Ast Publishers
> The Wandering Womb - China - Guizhou Publishing House
> The Wandering Womb - Korea - Book Cosmos
> Why Atheism? - Malaysia - Peer Mohd
> Why I Am Not a Muslim - Italy - Edizioni Ariele
> The Defense of Reason: Essays in Humanism and Skepticism - Perú -
> Ediciones de Filosofia Aplicada



*************************************************
Media goofed on Antarctic data
by Keay Davidson
San Francisco Chronicle
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/02/04/MN159039.DTL

"To most people, Antarctica is just a big, dumb block of ice swarming with
penguins."


Indiana Mystery Creature Baffles
WEWS-TV
http://www.newsnet5.com/news/1218326/detail.html

"Rick Deckard looks at the footprints on the ground near his property and
is certain of two things."


Human Sacrifice in London?
By Andrew Chang
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/britain020204_muti.html

"The body discovered in the Thames River on Sept. 21 last year raised alarm
bells from the start. It belonged to a boy, aged 5 to 7 years old, of
Afro-Caribbean descent, and it was missing its head, arms and legs."


Support for creationism resurfaces
By Leo Shane III
Cincinnati Enquirer
http://enquirer.com/editions/2002/02/04/loc_support_for.html

"Evolution is still in Ohio's classrooms, but the creationism debate is
back in the Ohio Statehouse."


Standing stones on wild hill remain a puzzle
By TRUDY TYNAN
Associated Press
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/State/Story/41850.html

"As cold and lonely as the winter sky, the standing stones atop Burnt Hill
have snagged the imagination of fiction writers and generations of
blueberry pickers."


IRS issues tax scam reparations warning
By Richard Craver
High Point Enterprise
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3170222&BRD=1332&PAG=461&;
dept_id=414366&rfi=6

"The latest version of a tax scam focusing on slavery reparations has been
reported in High Point and the Triad."


Great Salt Lake makes for tall tales
Reuters
http://www.msnbc.com/news/698978.asp

"Anyone who takes a break from the Winter Olympics to visit the lake which
gives Salt Lake City its name could find themselves coming face to face
with a 19th century grave digger. Or so local legend has it."


Scientologists Open Hotel Doors To Community
By NATASHIA GREGOIRE
Tampa Tribune
http://tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGA2FN9A8XC.html

"The pool at the Fort Harrison Hotel holds some of Liz Roche's fondest
childhood memories."


Anthroplogist speculates that creature might be exotic bear
By Kurt Van der Dussen
Bloomington Herald-Times
http://www.hoosiertimes.com/stories/2002/02/02/news.020202_HT_A1_PM027648.sto

"It's almost certainly not an ape, but it might be some sort of exotic bear."


Weather lore vs. modern science
By Sharon Denning
Odessa American
http://www.oaoa.com/news/nw020102a.htm

"When a fellow wearing a top hat and tuxedo pulls that grouchy-looking
groundhog out of his hole in Punxsutawney, Pa., Saturday morning, West
Texans, along with most Americans, won't put much stock in his predictions."


Prosecutors in Massachusetts fight for custody of sect member's baby - if
there is a baby
Associated Press
http://www2.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/ap_sect01302002.htm

"The state of Massachusetts is trying to take away a baby it has never seen
and cannot prove exists."



A Gaggle of Quackery Going Mainstream
By STEPHANIE SIMON
Los Angeles Times
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-020402quack.story

"Feeling run-down? A bit saggy of spirit? Step right up to the Orgone
Energy Accumulator. It looks like a coffin, but it's filled with pure
energy. Sit inside and soak up vigor."



Experts to weigh in on science standards
by Catherine Candisky
Columbus Dispatch
http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/news/news02/feb02/106985

1.html

"Scientists from throughout the nation are being summoned to help the Ohio
Board of Education decide whether students should be taught that life on
Earth is the result of evolution or intelligent design."


Lawsuits in Miss Cleo's future
by DIANA GRIEGO ERWIN
Scripps-McClatchy Western Service
http://www.nandotimes.com/opinions/story/240837p-2290176c.html

"OK, Miss Cleo of head-wrapped TV fame."


Selling the Moon
By Jack Karp
TechTV
http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/internetfraud/story/0,23008,3369944,00.html

"A bridge in Brooklyn. Swampland in Florida. Since retailers first started
selling goods, there have been people trying to trick naive buyers into
wasting money on nonexistent products. Is that what Dennis Hope is doing?"



Myth Versus Miracle
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23841-2002Feb4.html

"Was Juan Diego an Aztec to whom the Virgin Mary appeared almost 500 years
ago? Or is he simply the leading character in a feel-good fairy tale?"